Visiting Writers Series: Dr. Dan Tomasulo

Reading and Q&A with Dr. Dan Tomasulo

(Author of American Snake Pit)

We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Dan Tomasulo as the next author in our Visiting Writers Series. Dan will read from his latest book American Snake Pit: Hope, Grit, and Resilience in the Wake of Willowbrook (release date: May 1, 2018), which was a finalist in The Southampton Review‘s Frank McCourt Memoir prize. In addition, the screenplay of American Snake Pit has received more than 20 awards at international film festivals since June 2017. After reading from his book, Dan will kick-start a lively discussion and answer questions from the audience. We hope you can join us for this wonderful opportunity to learn from this psychologist, professor, speaker, and author.

Dan Tomasulo holds a PhD in psychology, an MFA in writing, and is the first licensed psychologist and psychodramatist to graduate from the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. He is on faculty at New Jersey City University and is an assistant instructor for Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, at UPenn for the MAPP program. He is the director and lead teacher for the Open Center’s New York City Positive Psychology Certification. Dan teaches positive psychology in the graduate program at Teachers College, Columbia University.

About American Snake Pit

In 1987, Dr. Dan Tomasulo was hired to relocate intellectually disabled residents of Staten Island’s Willowbrook State School, which was closing due to questionable medical practices, into a groundbreaking community-based group home. In his memoir, American Snake Pit: Hope, Grit, and Resilience in the Wake of Willowbrook, Tomasulo tells the story of the disregarded souls in his care, the resilient staff who helped make the move a success, and the persistent struggle to give voices to those who cannot advocate for themselves.

“If you want people to change for the better, you have to change their situation. American Snake Pit shows with courage and compassion how this can be done. From my viewpoint, this is the formula for hope.” — Philip Zimbardo, PhD, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University; and author, The Lucifer Effect

“Equally harrowing and transcendent in its telling, Tomasulo’s revealing tale balances on the boundary of what it is to be human, and to endure with dignity and compassion.” — Barnet Bain, Core Faculty, Spirituality Mind Body Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University; author of The Book of Doing and Being; and producer, What Dreams May Come

“A chilling memoir about the monumental challenges facing the intellectually disabled. But it is also a beautifully written, empathetic case for hope, resilience, and the transformative power of community.” — Adam Grant, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B (with Sheryl Sandberg)